Woodpecker on the side of the Peoria Heights Tower. (PHIL LUCIANO/JOURNAL STAR)

At the Peoria Heights Observation Tower, the best view might be from the ground.

From that vantage, you can gaze at the village’s most curious creature: a 300-pound, 6-foot-tall woodpecker. For five decades, it has been pecking a hole in the side of the 200-foot water tower, but thankfully hasn’t made any headway — after all, a half-million gallons of water lurk inside.

The tower rises above — where else? — Tower Park, adjacent to Village Hall. The tower was built in 1968. A year later, in Vancouver Island, Canada, local philanthropist and conservationist Bill Rutherford spotted a massive woodpecker, carved by a chainsaw from a large, red cedar stump. He decided to bring it home, a souvenir for the entire Heights.

“My wife thought I was crazy for wanting to get the woodpecker,” he once said. “But I thought it would be kinda fun.”

The big ol’ bird was attached to the tower in 1970. Unlike its famous cartoon counterpart, this woodpecker remains nameless.

In addition to the oversized feathered friend, the tower hosts a glass elevator and three observation decks. Up top, telescopes allow a panoramic view of the Illinois River Valley; on a clear day, you can see 20 miles.